1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge device and to an electronic device using the hinge device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Terminology
It is well known in the art that elements may be referred to by their names or symbols. The following Table 1 lists names and symbols of elements regarded in the specification and claims of the present invention.
TABLE 1NameSymbolManganeseMnChromiumCrNickelNiSiliconSiNitrogenNCarbonCSulfurSPhosphorusPAluminumAlCobaltCoTitaniumTiCopperCuVanadiumVTungstenWMolybdenumMoBoronBOxygenONiobiumNbTantalumTaYttriumYLanthanumLaCeriumCeHafniumHfZirconiumZrIronFe
A conventional mobile electronic device, for example, a notebook computer, a cell phone or a PDA, comprises a base and a screen, as well as a conventional hinge device connecting and enabling the rotating motion of the screen relative to the base. The manners for rotating the base and the screen include sliding, folding, or a combination of sliding and flipping. The conventional hinge device for use in a sliding-and-flipping electronic device comprises a hinge member and sliding plate. The hinge member comprises two ends, two sliding slots respectively formed at the ends and a pivoting portion. The pivoting portion is attached to the base of the electronic device so that the hinge member may turn pivotally relative to the base. The sliding plate is attached to the screen of the electronic device and is slidably mounted between the two sliding slots. When using the electronic device, the screen can be slid aside to a predetermined position and then can operate as the monitor of the electronic device.
The conventional hinge device is made from 304, 316L or 420L series stainless steels, zinc alloy, and amorphous Zirconic metal or amorphous titanic metal. However, the conventional hinge device made of the aforementioned material has the following shortcomings:
The zinc alloy is a low-strength material and parts made from zinc alloy thus easily abrade away with time so that unwanted gaps are formed between parts that eventually lead to disorder.
Parts made from conventional stainless steels are made directly from steel sheets with a stamping process that forms the parts into designed shapes. However, being limited by the original shape of the stainless steel sheet and the stamping process, there is little freedom in designing the shapes of the parts. Furthermore, 304 and 316L series stainless steels do not provide enduring strength. 420L series stainless steel, though having high strength, is highly ferromagnetic and may interfere with the operation of the electronic device. The saturation induction intensity of the 420L series stainless steel is 200 Gauss, much higher than the 5-10 Gauss of the 304 and 316L series stainless steels. Thus, 420L series stainless steel is not suitable for making a hinge device for use in electronic devices.
Molding processes are necessary for making parts from amorphous metals. Though high in strength and hardness, the molded parts are low in precision and require a further high-precision process to achieve applicable precision. The high-strength and high-hardness of said parts turn out to be obstacles for the high-precision process, and inevitably lead to longer processing time, high wear rate of bits and thus low yield ratio and high cost.
In addition, a conventional hinge device, as shown in Taiwan Utility Model No. M350212, comprises an independent hinge member and an independent sliding plate that are correspondingly operable for fulfilling the aforementioned slide-and-flipping function. However, the independent hinge member and the sliding plate are respectively attached to the body and the screen with fasteners, which increase parts numbers as well as complexity that lead to high manufacturing cost and high assembly cost.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a hinge device to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.